


Unintended Pit Stop

by zephyras13



Series: Exiles [21]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Choices, Drabble Collection, F/M, Misunderstanding, Present Tense, Requited Love, Romantic Friendship, Roommates, Secrets, Separation, Sexual Fantasy, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-28
Updated: 2012-07-28
Packaged: 2017-11-10 22:14:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/471276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephyras13/pseuds/zephyras13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reprieve (if you could call it that) is over and nothing ever goes as Rukia plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unintended Pit Stop

A week after Ginjou's death, Riruka disappears and no one knows where she has gone. Ichigo, Inoue, and Sado go out and look for her, but Rukia knows they will not find her. She's not sure how she feels about it. Strange, as weeks before the girl cut Ichigo down in front of her without mercy. But it is undeniable that she helped them, with no benefit to herself, and trained Ichigo to make up for her actions.

With Ichigo out of the way, however, Rukia is packing. It's taking far longer than her experiences with packing in the past because she has so much more stuff than she's ever had in her life, but also because she doesn't know what to bring. She probably doesn't need any human clothes where she's going, but there's the first dress that she'd ever bought with her own money, the fuzzy gloves she wore during the winter, and the book of pictures of small animals that Ichigo'd got her for her birthday mostly as a joke, that she'd pretended to be insulted at, but secretly loved. There's the dangling sparkly earrings with jewels that she'd bought even though she doesn't have her ears pierced, finer than anything she'd ever seen in the Soul Society, the nice set of markers-so many different _colors_!- and thick paper that Inoue had given her, the books and movies she keeps in the box hidden under her bed because their topics make Ichigo uncomfortable and sad, the tote bag with three yellow ducklings that Ishida had embroidered on it, and all the pictures she has of her friends from over the years. She doesn't see how she can leave them behind, but she can't take _everything_ , so she's got her stuff spread out all over her bed and part of the floor.

"What. The hell." Ichigo says and Rukia almost jumps in surprise. She looks up from her seated place on the floor to see Ichigo standing at her open door, eyes wide, his face pale. She's confused for a second, and only realizes after a moment how this must look.

"I-Ichigo!" she says, leaping to her feet, ready to say that it isn't what it looks like-

But that would be a lie. Because it's exactly what it looks like.

"I thought," Ichigo says slowly, deliberately, in that voice that means he's try to keep from shouting, "you said you were only going away for a little while."

"I-" Rukia starts, feeling her throat go dry. "I was-I mean, I am-"

"Oh, who do you think you're kidding?" Ichigo asks furiously, striding as far into her room as possible without stepping on any of her stuff, which is about one step. "You're a good liar, Rukia, but you're not that good."

"And that is supposed to mean _what_ exactly?" Rukia shoots back, because everyone knows that the best defense is a good offense.

"Why are you doing this?" Ichigo says, voice rising with every word, like an alarm. "What the _hell_ , Rukia! You said you needed to clear your head! _This-_ " He makes a sweeping gesture at her stuff strewn around the room. "-is not clearing your head. _This_ is running away! _Again_!"

"I am _not_ running away!" Rukia says loudly, clenching her fists at her sides, trying to cut him off before things get really serioud. "If you would stop jumping to conclusions for one second-"

"Were you even going to _tell_ me?" Ichigo shouts, and shit, they've had fights before, but not like this. Usually it's just over stupid things, things that don't really matter in the long run, because they're both too stubborn for their own good and have always liked ribbing each other a little too much. But this is different. What is said now will not be forgotten. The only times that have come close are when he'd woken up after the first confrontation with Aizen, where she'd told him to spare Ichigo, to kill her instead, and then later, when Ichigo'd found out that she'd taken on Hollow powers.

"Or were you just going to leave some stupid note like last time?" Ichigo continues, starting to get red in the face.

"Oh, shut _up_!" Rukia shouts back, starting to get angry as well. "You have no _idea_ what you are talking ab-"

"Then tell me!" Ichigo yells, looking furious, and confused, and _hurt,_ like Rukia's stuck her hand through his chest, not moving out. "Why the fuck do you need to "clear you head," huh? If this is some stupid attempt to try and protect me, I swear to _God,_ Rukia, I will-"

In that moment, Rukia _hates_ him. She cannot believe how much of an idiot he is, how _stupid_ he's being, because only a complete moron would be this dense. He should know by now, he should know _everything_ , but he doesn't. It probably hasn't even crossed his mind, and Rukia hates it.

"Y-You are...so... _stupid_!" she says angrily, so mad she can barely speak.

It isn't fair. It isn't fair and it isn't right and he is so _dumb_ , because he thinks she doesn't like him, even after _everything_ , and that couldn't be further from the truth. It doesn't make any sense that _Ichigo_ of all people, always so confident and self-assured, just passively _assumes_ her indifference. He's so ridiculously good at everything else, so why this, why this _one thing_ , does he have to be so completely _wrong_ about? It's a stupid thing to be mad about-she doesn't _want_ him to know-but his simple assumption that she couldn't possible feel the same as he does makes her so _angry_. She wants to lash out at him, say something cruel, anything to make him stop _talking_. She wants to say "Why do you _think_?" but she knows Ichigo wouldn't understand. He'd misinterpret it, think he'd done something wrong, when in reality he's gone out of his way to hide his feelings from her. As if he's worried of _offending_ her, or some other ridiculous nonsense like that. It's horrible; he's trying to be kind, to be _good,_ but Rukia doesn't want it. She doesn't want it, doesn't need it. She wants _him_ , more than anything she's ever wanted in her life, but Ichigo doesn't know. He's completely oblivious, he doesn't _understand_ , and worse, he actually seems _fine_ with it most of the time. Like it's okay that he's living with someone who doesn't return his feelings. Rukia thinks she could deal with it if Ichigo was just...waiting for the right moment or something. But he's not, he honestly doesn't expect anything other than friendship between them and it _infuriates_ her.

She wants to hit him. She wants to _punch him in the face_. She wants to kick his head in and then shove him back on her bed and have her way with him, see his face blurred with pleasure, feel his hands on her, him in her, hear his helpless moans-it would be so much easier without the broken ar-

" _I'm_ stupid?" Ichigo shouts back, so loudly that everyone in a block radius must be able to hear. "You're the one incapable of basic communication!"

Rage courses through her and Rukia throws what she's holding to the ground, a pair of underwear embarrassingly enough.

"Oh, sure!" she yells, digging her nails hard into her palms. "I will just stay, and obviously that will solve _everything_ -"

Ichigo looks shocked for a second, but then the anger is back. "What the hell is there to _solve_ , Rukia?" he says, with that stubborn expression that means that he's not going to give in. "Why won't you tell me what the hell's going on?"

"If you were not such a _fucking_ moron-" Rukia starts, and Ichigo looks like he's on the brink of violence, but then-

Reiatsu spike.

"Do you-" she says, but from the look on Ichigo's face he feels it too.

Rukia whirls around, almost getting whiplash from the sudden change in mood. It's...there's something here, something next door, in Ichigo's-

Ichigo's out the door before she can say anything else and Rukia hurtles after him without a thought. They get to Ichigo's room at approximately the same time, almost slamming into the door frame. There's someone already in there.

It's a man; tall and in an odd white coat, with a familiar looking mask. But he wasn't in Hueco Mundo, Rukia would have remembered _this_ reiatsu, strange, because it's almost like-

"Hey, I don't know who you are," Ichigo says coldly, stiffening up for a fight, "but get off that bed."

**Author's Note:**

> I return! With more angst! But I promise we will be getting plot soon to balance it all out, so no worries. Also, next time will be Ichigo, because it's been a while. Please review!


End file.
